


Buttercup Baby

by PolarisBorealis



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: 'Cause Sans is already head over fucking heels in love wow, And boy howdy does shit get real, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, But lots of happy too, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Rating it Mature because of the death part, Sans Remembers Resets, Slight almost suicide in the beginning, Slow Burn, Swearing, There's gonna be a lot of death, This is more of a one sided slow burn actually, You know the swearing is real when you swear in the tags too, so do you
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-09
Updated: 2017-09-06
Packaged: 2018-10-29 19:05:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 18,642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10860177
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PolarisBorealis/pseuds/PolarisBorealis
Summary: “i don’t care how many times that kid rewinds our lives. i’ll never let you go. i’ll never let them hurt you.”Sans knew with every reset, each human that fell came in the same order as all the rest. After a bad run, when the seventh soul came, it wasn’t Frisk. No, it was someone new. Someone entirely different.Who are you?What are you doing to him?





	1. Favorites

Gotta get out.

Gotta get o u t.

Gotta  g e t   _h i m_   ** _o u t_**.

You dashed through the thick woods surrounding the mountain, shielding your face from all the branches you were running blindly into. They cut up your cheeks and forearms into thin slices. Your thoughts were running as wild as your heart pounding in your rib cage, threatening to pop out at any moment to flee from the scene. You kept hearing things and dodging away from them, criss-crossing along between fallen trees and bumpy shrubs and sinking dips in the dirt. Maybe he was following you? No, no he can’t be. He’s just not real. He’s in your head yet you absolutely swear to the gods above y o u  s a w  h i m.

Your feet took you to a sharp incline as you continued to clamber along, this time having to scamper up boulders and other large obstacles. The terrain began to level out until you were able to keep up a manageable sprint. Your senses were heightened as you slowed to a stop, head thrashing left and right and all around to look for your tormentor. It was much too quiet.

He is near.

Before you could think, static filled your mind and you screamed, staring dead into his dripping face and white headlight eyes. With adrenaline kicking into gear, you shot off into the distance, away from the clearing he had caught you in. Your feet carried you through a much denser forest than before, covered with more and more vegetation. You needed to get away.

In your state of pain and panic, you failed to notice where you were stepping.

‘ G o o d b y e , Y / N ’

Your bare foot slammed into a large root jutting out of the ground and gravity took control, your eyes seeing nothing but black from the gaping hole in the mountain you were falling into. Everything went silent. No owls, no coyotes yipping, no water from the creek rushing, no twigs snapping. The world was still as you spun around and your eyes met with the clear night sky, stars glittering and exploding and being reborn light years away. The soft grass was getting farther away. Blood mixed with your tears above your eyelashes and bubbled in the air. Your hair whipped around violently, yet caressed your cheeks and ears in a gentle effort to save you. Crystals stuck out sharp and deadly from all sides of the walls, old and sparkling in all different colors under the glow of night.

You reached a hand out to the stars.

A sickening crack interrupted your fall as you bounced off the ground and back into the air a few inches. Golden petals puffed up and flew everywhere. Pollen floated in the air, careless, but annoyed at your sudden disturbance of basking in the starlight in this gigantic hole. The pretty allergens fluttered back down and covered your eyes and mouth. You were losing your grip on reality.

Nothing was colorful anymore.

Dark.

Darker.

Knocked out cold.

* * *

 

‘G A S P’

You woke up with a start, coughing violently as your throat was blocked with something soggy but thick and solid. You sat up and tilted your head to your lap, coughing and wheezing as golden buttercup petals tainted with blood from your burning insides sputtered out of your mouth one by one. The blood stuck to your hands and stained your shirt, drying around your mouth. They were everywhere, tangled in your hair and toes and clothes. It was dark still, but you could barely make out the gentle blue moonlight kissing your fingertips in a silent apology. You blinked at the thought and looked up.

“Nighttime again?” You spoke, voice hoarse. The sky was dark and thick with clouds, making it difficult to tell if that was moonlight you see or the sun's rays masked by grey. The first of many drops of water landed on your nose, sprinkling on your eyelashes and stinging red elbows. As time passed, the rain just got worse, increasing in size and amount. Soon, you were being showered with sweet, refreshing rain, not being able to distinguish them from your own salty tears that dripped from your chin. Face contorted with hopelessness, eyebrows furrowed, you wept in silence. You were thinking. Nobody would find you here. Nobody will listen. Your clothes soaked you to the bone as you shivered involuntarily. You finally let out your first broken sob. Your cried and wails grew so loud, they echoed off the walls and bounced back, shaking your very soul with your own inner turmoils. You felt everything at once, and then the pain died down into sniffles masked by thunder. The rain picked up, growing so heavy and quick it began to bruise your skin like bullets. As your body began to numb from the mixture of all these raging emotions and physical blows, your eyes were drawn to the one thing that stood out against the murky world your brain was creating.

Yellow.

You plucked a buttercup from the soaked grass, bringing it gently to your eye level. These are poisonous. You glanced up from where you fell, weighing your options. Focusing your attention back on the beauty cradled in your palms, you brought it closer to your bruised lips. Maybe if you just ate a few, you could finally have peace. You were already well over six feet under...

Wait? That noise.

Footsteps squishing into the soil.

On any other occasion, you would duck and frantically find a way to hide. You were so entranced by the buttercups to care. You opened your mouth and went to place it on your waiting tongue like a slice of warm cake. Before it could set down, it was yanked away as someone grabbed your wrist and pulled it back. You didn’t make much of a response besides lolling your head back with gravity to face whoever stopped your suicide.

A… skeleton?

You tilted your head to the side in confusion. He was really pretty. The moonlight gave his white cranium a soft blue glow, which was emphasized by the rain reflecting it in beautiful navy rays around the crown of his skull. It was a small detail that would go unnoticed by most, but you couldn’t help but see the little details of things. He looked so nice and blue, crouched down in front of you. You think blue is now your favorite color.

Oh, he’s been speaking.

“...not good for you, buddy. don’t think you wanna hurt yourself, now do you?” He must be talking about the buttercup. You didn’t put up much of a fight to get it back as he tossed it aside. You immediately grabbed another one, plucking it from the soil and bringing it to your mouth. He did the same thing as before, chuckling nervously. You made a small whine, reaching to grab another one. His clean phalanges held your wrists back gently. Unable to accomplish your task, you looked him in the pretty little white lights that sparkled like stars in his sockets. They look like Sirius and Polaris. You think those are now your favorite stars.

“hey, don’t eat those. ‘m serious. can you stand?” He questioned, switching to sitting on his knees and looking into your expression for a nod or a shake. You made no response as you were entranced by his sweet honey voice. He sighed and stood on his feet, slipping his hands into yours and pulling you to your feet.

Bad choice.

Your leg twisted with a loud _CRUNCH_. Pain swelled through you, coursing through your nervous system and most _definitely_   waking you out of your dazed state. So that was the crack you heard when you hit the ground from your fall. You’ve broken your tibia and fibula, _obviously_. Nice going, dumb ass. You screamed for a few seconds, brain growing fuzzy as your eyes rolled behind your head. You toppled over, plummeting towards the ground. With lightning reflexes, the pretty skeleton swooped down and scooped you up, cradling you in his arms. He took a moment to panic at your pained eyes and distraught eyebrows. He then briskly walked away from the flower patch as you hissed in pain and ducked your face into his baby blue hoodie, which would probably be softer than wool if he hadn't wasted his time sitting with you in the rain. In a matter of time, you reached the edge of the hole in the mountain. The rain stopped altogether and you let out a shaky sigh as the pain on your delicate skin started to swell and bruise now that the constant pressure was gone. You peeked up at the skeleton through half-lidded eyes.

“hey? can you hear me? are you okay? what happened?” He asked in a jumble of concerned words. You forgot about the immense pain for a second and almost laughed. Too late now. The words already slipped out your mouth. 

“I don’t want to t-tell you a _fibula_ , s-s-so _tibia_ honest, I d-don’t think i’m doing too well.” Shit. Puns? Now? And to top it all off, it just had to be about your broken leg. God, you were just so stup-

He’s laughing.

You’ve never heard such an angelic sound. The deep vibration of his chest warmed your heart as his laughs grew and grew. He was smiling so wide that his jaw practically unhinged to laugh even _louder_. You gazed up at him in wonder, smiling for the first time in front of him. It was small, but it sure as hell was there. The sound coming from his mouth was an indescribable bass line of a jazz band, hot caramel coffee, deep blue hues, and smooth splattered paintings. It was just pure and sweet and outrageously ridiculous. It was contagious and made you giggle without a second thought. He was glowing, letting the whole world know that you are the culprit for this outburst of raw happiness. You think he has your favorite laugh.

You watched him ride out his high and settle for brightly crinkled eyes. His pupils had doubled in size, showing innocence you never knew existed before with a hint of fondness reserved for you and you only. He settled for a full grin and adjusted his grip on you, lifting a hand to brushed your matted hair away from your face. He twisted the locks behind your ear and rested his hand on your cheek to brush away your happy tears with his thumb. You were on cloud fucking nine.

“what’s your name?” He finally asked, hoping and waiting patiently for your response.

“Y/n. What’s yours?”

“sans. sans the skeleton. you’ve got a pretty name.”

He thinks your name is pretty. You smiled so wide, your eyes got little crinkles and your nose scrunched up. Your teeth revealed themselves from between your lips until you were showing almost as much as Sans's perma-grin.

“smile more. looks perfect on you.”

So you did.

 

You think Sans the skeleton is your favorite person.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there, friend. I'm Polaris. Skeleton extraordinaire and astronomical NASA fact machine.  
> I wish calling myself that in real life wouldn't turn so many heads.  
> I'm currently figuring out a schedule for updates on this, so for now, let's settle for once a week. Who knows? Maybe i'll surprise you with more.
> 
> Let's get this show on the road, yeah?


	2. The Nerd and Her New Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which you realize that these chapters are going to vary drastically in length.

Sans trudged along, carrying you as if you weighed nothing. He must be pretty strong to be holding you up for such a long time without so much as adjusting you in his arms. He is pretty big-boned, making him extra comfy despite being a literal skeleton (much more soft and cartoon-like if you ask me). Maybe that's his body's way of showing muscle? Sans doesn't seem like he would choose lifting weights over a cushioned sofa. I mean, slippers paired with those black basketball shorts? It's like he woke up motivated to work out and lost it immediately. Maybe he plays sports? No, he would be wearing sneakers. Those slippers just sealed the deal that the basketball shorts were meant to be pajama pants that could also be worn out in public and you wouldn't be ridiculed for it. You do the same thing after all, considering that those three years of humiliation of basketball during P.E. ruined sports for you. The clothes sure are damn convenient. Yeah. He is a total lazy bones.

"a lazy bones with over 206 _humerus_ puns, might i add." Sans said, chuckling softly at your revelation of himself.

Your brain really needs to learn the difference between thoughts and things you actually want to say.

You let your eyes drift around, inspecting the walls of the cave. If Sans was quiet enough with his footsteps, you could hear soft drops of water splashing against the rocky floor. It was very humid in here. It must rain on the mountain a lot, gathering though that huge hole you fell through. The thick moisture in the air combined with the natural darkness of the cave must have created the perfect place for crystals to grow. They stuck to every place you saw, shedding the corridor with musky blue, green, and pink colors when the faint light hit them. They heavily reminded you of the glow-in-the-dark stars you covered your apartment in, arranging them in constellations and stories all over your ceilings and walls in every room they could fit. Maybe if you and Sans could get out of here, you could invite him to your place and go star-gazing in your room. You even arranged all the stars to imitate the autumn sky and-

That's just wishful thinking.

You actually quite like the world and it's people. Sure, some of them are mean and for some reason news stations only want to report on the trouble they cause, but the surface is just gorgeous. You used to love going on little road trips by yourself to get away from some of the city and hang out with the beautiful scenery nature can create. Your problem, the reason you fell down here in the first place, was him. The man in your head with the sticky voice and the burning white eyes. He could be waiting outside the entrance to this cave for all you know. Hell, since he lives in your head, he might as well just follow you down here. You really hope he doesn't do that. He makes you feel very lonely. You noticed Sans stop walking. You followed his eyes to see a set of stairs carved into the cave, purple carpet leading to an opening above. He made his way up the stairs and went through a very very large door, revealing even more purple. This "cave" must have been hollowed out into rooms like you read in _Miss Frisby and the Rats of Nimh._ Both underground, in fact. Vines twisted and curled around the walls, all leading deeper into the unknown. You still had no idea where you were. You'll ask your big skelly tour-guide.

"H-Hey Sans. W-Where are we e-e-exactly?" You questioned, voice shaking. Those flowers really did a number on your insides. He perked up at your question, having it been quiet for some time.

"well, first of all, we are under mt. ebott. i'm assuming you don't know much about us monsters, do you?"

"W-Wait. There's m-more of you?" You asked, surprised. Now that you think about it, it's dumb to assume that Sans was the only person here. Sans laughed at your response and shook his head in amusement.

"yeah, buttercup. 'm not the only guy 'round these parts. lemme tell you a story. a long time ago, like, really really long ago, humans and monsters used to live on the surface together. we built villages and shared the land. after a while, the humans became more nervous and weary of the magic that all monsters possess. they must have felt really threatened because one day, they attacked. it started out small but it escalated into a full-on war. humans will always overpower monsters, as one human soul is equal to practically every monster soul. they won and called seven human mages to seal us underground, which is where we are now. it's been so long since then, and we would leave, but the only way to get out is to break the barrier with seven human souls.

“W-Wait. You’ve been t-trapped down here th-this whole time? That’s… It’s not.. I can’t…” You had no words to describe the confusion and anger bubbling inside of you. These kind people have never seen the light of day? They’ve never seen the ocean and smelt it’s salty waters. They’ve never seen the sunset and sunrise or the 6 o’clock golden hour where everything was bathed in soothing light. Never seen hot air balloons lazily blowing through the breeze or heard owls hooting in the dead of night. Never seen the northern lights or gazed at the stars until you’ve fallen asleep in fascination. Never drawn pictures from the clouds and written stories in the sky, stitching stars together into intricate tales with lessons to be learned. Nobody deserved to live a life without experiencing the wonders of the world.

Something glowed inside of you with distress.

Sans was staring at you, his pupils doubled in size and lighting up the hollows of his eyes. He was fixed on your chest, but he wasn’t exactly seeing anything. It was as if he was looking through you. What was so interesting?

“S-Sans?” He blinked and his pupils were back to normal. He noticed he had been caught staring and a baby blue hue spread over his cheeks. He didn’t look away, though.

“s-sorry. ‘s nothing. just, uh. you looked real determined there. don’t stress about it okay? it’s not something we could control. you’re kind enough to believe in us." He lifted a hand to smooth down your hair, adjusting you in his arms. You bounced up, and your leg dragged harshly against his ribs. You immediately let out a shriek as the feeling of broken bone rubbing against each other filled your senses and made you shiver in pure discomfort. Tears welled in your eyes and spilled out against your will. It felt like nails scratching on a chalkboard, lifting up and peeling away.

“fuck fuck fuck fuck buttercup i’m so sorry it’s just i wanted to smooth your hair down and you were falling and i didn’t mean to hurt you i really didn’t just please believe me i really d-” He hurried out his apology, being so sincere he had no words to beg for forgiveness. You cut him off with a light giggle through your swelling pain.

“I-It’s o-o-okay! R-Really, I-”

…

...Wait…

“...Buttercup?” You questioned the nickname that you brushed aside earlier, now questioning his choice. He visibly stiffened, eyes growing dark as his pupils flickered rapidly and burnt out like a flame on a candle. He sputtered out nonsensical words in an attempt to explain to you why he had chosen “Buttercup” of all things to be your name. The light blue dusted on his cheeks grew into something much more intense. You laughed out loud to ease his distress.

“I l-like it!”

“like what?”

“The n-ni-nickname. It’s c-c-ute. T-Thoughtful.” He looked bewildered, then disappointed.

“thoughtful? yeah, sure. to the thing that was just about to take you away from me. it’s just… they remind me of you, ya know? they’re beautiful, strong and independent. nobody can mess with you because you’re you. a nickname for my buttercup.” Now it was your turn to burst into nonsensical words. That was s o c u t e. You didn’t even know how to respond to that. Sans stopped walking, looking up at a huge looming door. It was 10 feet tall at the least!

“we’re here.”

“W-wh-where is h-here?”

“that place we just walked through? ‘s called the ruins. it runs through the first part of the underground, and not a lot of people live here except for some small monsters like froggits. this is my friend toriel’s house, which is where here is. she’s really nice and i brought you here ‘cause she knows healing magic and she’ll keep ya safe. also, my brother papyrus is here, and i just wanna warn you that he has a naturally loud voice. he doesn’t wanna scare ya. he’s actually quite like you, kind to the point where you wouldn’t hurt a fly.” You stared in wonder at the door as Sans finished his explanation. Sans was tall enough, but toriel must be ginormous! And what about Papyrus? If males are typically taller than females, _hoo boy_. You wonder just how big monsters can get. You have yet to see a small one! Sans very carefully moved one of his hands from your thigh and lifted it to the door, extra gentle with you this time now realizing just how fragile you were. He rapped his knuckles on the door, the sound of it echoing through the cave. A crash was heard from inside, followed by a loud apology and a sweet reply. The door was drawn open, revealing a v e r y tall goat woman. Toriel, you guess. She was taller than Sans’s staggering 6 feet, and if the door was 10, then she was a good 8. You were 5’3 for goodness sake! That was absolutely amazing! She wore a long purple gown, the white sleeves were embroidered with fine lace with lots of patience put into each thread. The front of her gown bore the same symbol you saw on the first door. Triangles and circles. Her fur was pure white, untouched by dirt or debris. It looked smooth to the touch and softer than any surface you had ever felt in your life. Her eyes were a warm brick red, and they matched her perfect smile like a puzzle piece. That smile was quickly replaced with the deepest concern when she caught your drooping eyes.

“Oh goodness gracious! What on earth has happened to you, my child?” She let out. Her giant paws ghosted above her muzzle, showing surprise and fear. She quickly moved to take you from Sans’s arms, but he tensed up and moved you out of the way, just barely. She got the hint and retracted her paws immediately, balling them into unsure fists and resting them in the air where you once were. Sans looked guilty, letting his shoulders drop and his gaze cast to the floor.

“sorry, tori. ‘s just… she’s real broken right now and i don’t want anyone to hurt her- n-not that you would! i-i just need you to really be, uh, careful.” Sans tried to reason. You lifted a hand up to his cheekbone and cupped it, stroking the smooth bone with your thumb. He looked down at you immediately, yet again entranced by what he saw. Really, you weren’t that interesting. Maybe he wasn’t interested in you? If he wasn’t, then why was gazing into your eyes like that? You shook your thoughts and said what you wanted to say.

“S-S-Sans, i-it’s al-lright.” You turned your eyes to toriel and dropped your hand. It felt out of place.

“H-Hello, T-Toriel! It’s n-n-nice to m-meet y-you. I hope I'm n-no-not imp-posing, b-but i br-broke my leg a-and I c-can’t walk.”

“Oh, of course you’re not imposing! Please, come inside. It is very nice to meet you. Might I have your name?”

“(Y/N)” She brightened at your reply.

“What a beautiful name!”

“right? thought so too.” Cue more blushing. You sheepishly turned away from everyone and hid in Sans’s jacket again. Nope, nope, nope. Too cute for you. Sans stepped forward and your senses were hit with sweet sugary goodness. Someone's been cooking. Toriel’s home was very beautiful, but simple for the vibe her appearance gave off. It reminded you much of your apartment. Images of your walls covered in star stickers flashed through your mind and you teared up. You hope the landlady didn’t take those down after she realizes you are gone. Toriel guided Sans through the house and opened the door to a guest bedroom, propping up the pillows so you had a place to sit up.

“I will be right back, my child. I am going to make you some tea to help with that throat of yours.” Toriel said, smiling kindly and exiting the room. When Sans put you down on top of the plush cushions, you practically sunk into them, letting out a huge sigh of relief. As nice as Sans was for carrying you, he wasn’t exactly the softest person in the world. Sure, the giant winter coat helped, but he was still a bunch of literal bones. He laughed at your sigh and combed your hair back gently with his phalanges. He tilted his head to the side in confusion as he rested the back of his hand against your forehead. He cursed under his breath. Yeah, you were kinda sweaty and desperately needed a bath, but you didn’t think it was that bad.

“buttercup, you’re burning’ up.” Well shit. You’ve got a broken leg and a fever? Plus all those cuts and bruises from the fall? You must look like you got hit by a semi.

“d-do you need ice? why are you hot? was it my jacket?”

… He didn’t know you were sick?

“S-Sans, how much d-do you know ab-bout human sickness?”

“nothing. wait, humans get sick? how do you get sick? pretty sure you don’t have magic.”

“...What?” Sans didn’t understand what you didn’t understand. Toriel entered the room again, this time holding a steaming cup of tea. The water vapor curled through the air in whimsical shapes as she set the tea down in your shaking hands.

“What are you two confused about?”

“i felt her forehead and she’s really hot? i’m not sure what it is but she just asked me about human sickness?” Toriel looked alarmed, looking in your eyes. She quickly went to your side and put her soft paw on your forehead. She gasped, looking very scared.

“You-You-You’re sick! You’re sick! Oh goodness oh goodness what do I do I can’t I don’t-” She looked so broken suddenly, tears welling up in her eyes. You quickly put the tea down on the bedside table and waved your hands in the air to stop her tears.

“T-T-Toriel! Toriel! I-It’s o-okay! I j-just have a f-fe-fever! It’s o-okay!” You quickly said. No more tears! No more tears! Sans looked shocked at your different reactions, suddenly rushing to your side and grasping your waving hands.

“w-wait how are you sick? you can’t be sick. oh shit how bad is human sickness? i had no idea you could get sick oh fuck oh fuck what’s going to happen to you? what do i do what can i do?” He looked desperate for an answer, holding your hands as if you were about to fall apart at any moment.

“L-Listen t-to me! I’m o-okay! J-Just c-c-calm d-down and I’ll explain!” You had to raise your voice a little over the ruckus they were making. They immediately listened to your words and sat down. Toriel was so tall that even sitting on the floor her head reached yours. Sans just dropped to his knees, still clutching your hands.

“S-Sans, I n-need to drink t-the tea…” You blushed. He hesitantly let go of your hands as you reached for the cup of tea. It smelled very nice. You took a sip and were instantly overcome with a deep sense of relaxation. Your vocal cords were soothed, and your insides no longer felt so damaged. You could breathe without biting down a cough.

“Woah… how did that work?” You spoke for the first time in your normal voice. It felt so good. After this experience, you’d never hate the sound of it again. You looked to Sans and Toriel, searching their eyes for answers. They were searching yours, too. Sans’s eye were doubled in size again, that blue hue taking over his features. Toriel looked delighted.

“You can speak! Oh, this is wonderful!”

“your voice is r-really p-pretty, buttercup.” You blinked at the responses and blushed, smiling wide and tilting your head to the side to let your hair fall away from your face.

“Thank you! I would have said more, but man did that fall screw up my speech. Hurt so bad.” You were cut off as loud footsteps bounded down the hall. Your eyes widened as a skeleton larger than life poked his head through the doorframe. This must be P-

“THERE YOU ALL ARE… OH! A HUMAN! HELLO, HUMAN! I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AND IT IS SO NICE TO MEET YOU! SANS YOU BONEHEAD WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME WE HAD A HUMAN IN LADY TORIEL’S HOME?” W o w he was loud. Yup, this was definitely Papyrus. He looks way more like a skeleton than Sans does, especially because his clothes showed off a lot more bone. He is very tall, but since Toriel is sitting, you had no one to compare him to. He looks much more like a skeleton you’d see in the corner of a science classroom, except he is still way more soft and cartoony than one. Sans is a very watered-down version of a skeleton now that you looked at it. Papyrus has a distinct jaw bone that separates from the rest of his skull while sans is very fused together and complete, though you knew he had bones under there from the way they were poking into your sides a few minutes ago. Papyrus is wearing an outfit that looks like it belongs in a halloween store, but it looks more hand-made with all the little stitchings. He looks very cute and innocent.

“Hello, Papyrus! Your brother has told me good things about you, and you sure do live up to them!” Papyrus blushed at your words and made a gesture with his hand that was very “awww, stop it~” You continued talking.

“Would you like to sit with us? I was about to tell your brother and Toriel a little bit about us humans.” You asked. His long, thin sockets lit up in happiness. Unlike Sans, his had no tiny lights in them. You wonder why that was.

“THANK YOU FOR THE OFFER, HUMAN! I’D VERY MUCH LIKE TO HEAR ALL ABOUT YOU.” He hopped across the room and sat down next to Sans, who had averted his attention from his brother back to you. It seems like he forgot about your fever.

“So, Papyrus, I currently have a fever. It is a type of human sickness which has very little side effects and is most often not fatal.”

“wait, you can die from it?”

“Theoretically, yes, we can. It all depends on how tough your immune system is. A bit about human anatomy, our bodies are composed of many organ systems, all protected ultimately by the largest organ in our bodies! It is our skin. We have lots of systems, but some important ones are the skeletal system, the immune system, the circulatory system, and the respiratory system. The skeletal system is literally what you think it is. It is all of the bones in our body working together to allow movement. It gives us structure because without a skeleton, we’d all have no shape. The immune system protects ourselves from sickness caused in a variety of ways. Some illnesses are much more damaging than others, but fevers are very brief and only last a few days. They vary in intensity and side-effects and are contagious. The circulatory system lets blood flow through our veins, which is the red stuff that should always stay inside of us. It is pumped by the heart. Lastly, the respiratory system gives us life. It takes in oxygen to the lungs.” They were staring at you with complete undivided attention.

“Shit, did I start rambling again? I’m very sorry. You see, on the surface, I work in a hospital as a radiologist. I don’t get much time to talk about the body since everyone who works there knows as much as I do about it. It’s nice to be the educator for a change.” Sans leaned in, focused on every word that spilled from your lips.

“you’re all amazing. that is amazing. we don’t have any of those in us. we’re all magic and light.

“That is very interesting. Would you mind elaborating?” Your science side craved more information. It seems like Sans is a nerd too because it was as if he dropped the lazy persona and became a different person who craved just as much information as you did.

“you see, every living thing has a soul. whether you choose to believe it or not, it’s real and very much there. i believe i’ve heard humans talking about it metaphorically, but they are actually real things that you can touch. they lie at your center and are absolutely you. to break a soul is to die. humans are very physical and real, but us monsters? all magic and light. our souls are very important to us because since monsters are all expressed in different ways by light, they are the only things that are the same in everyone and can be measured. do you like space?”

“Fuck yeah I like space.”

“think of our souls as black holes. strong enough gravitational pull that not even light can escape. our souls pull in the light from around us to project a solid image that can be touched and seen. the light absolutely never goes away unless we are dying. like a candle flickering out. that means you’ll always see me as me unless i’m dead. the magic in our souls is that unfathomable gravitational pull, and it shapes us into a form that we cannot control. that is why monsters all look like different entities entirely. only some of us end up looking the same, like froggits and temmies. they are usually related and their souls take on similar light forms.”

“How do you all get sick, then? You have no organs for bacteria to infect.”

“monsters run off of magic, right? think of magic like our blood. infected magic leads to sick monsters. all monsters react differently to sickness, but we don’t get hot like you. most of the time we just grow sluggish because it slows down our magic’s reaction time to our souls.”

“So you’d be even lazier than you already are?” There goes your smart personas.

“heh, if anything it just makes my puns _ill_ uminate.”

“Oh, man! They must be _sick_!”

You two burst out laughing, the sound of them vibrating the souls in the room with something warm and unidentifiable. If you hadn’t thrown your head back and covered your eyes with your hand, you would have seen Sans’s eyes flicker to hearts. When you calmed down, you wiped your eyes and spoke to the best of your abilities.

“Now that we know more about each other, I can assure you that my fever is much like your usual sickness. Though we can get sick to the point of death, I will warn you all of that beforehand since I can diagnose myself. The chances of that are very slim, considering my family hasn’t had very many health problems in the past. I just get more fevers than most.”

“Well that is good to hear. We appreciate your company very much, (Y/N).” Toriel added, pleased at your state. She stood up and so did Papyrus.

“May I heal your leg? I’m sure you’re tired of the pain.”

“Yes, **_please_ **.”

Sans moved to the side as Toriel rested a paw against your calf. You tensed and cried out, tears bubbling and spilling over. Fuck. That hurt. Sans looked unsure until green light flowed out from under her paw and spread over your knee like a bandage. Your tears turned happy as you smiled in contentment. You could hear your leg snapping into different places, the broken shards leaving your muscle tissue and attaching themselves into the right places. It was as if this magic was revering time. Sans and Papyrus cringed at the noises, shivers visibly running down their spines. As the last piece sealed itself, Toriel let go of your leg. You hummed with relief and touched your leg. It was literally as good as new. You started laughing in fascination as you poked your leg and grabbed Toriel’s paw, searching for the source of the magic that had saved you seven weeks without walking. The sciencey side returned, your eyes lighting up.

“How did you do that? How did that even work? This is fucking incredible you all are fucking incredible this changes everything i’ve ever known about medicine what if you could bottle this stuff and put it in pills and they-”

“slow down there, buttercup. you’ll bite your tongue.”

“Oh but Sans you don’t understand! I can walk! Seven weeks prematurely! I’ve never seen anything like this in my entire life! Wait.. I CAN WALK!”

You squeed in glee and hopped off the bed, running around in circles. You ran to Toriel and hugged her around her legs. You blasted across the room to Papyrus next, jumping into his arms as he let out a happy “NYEH HEH HEH!” Lastly, you turned to Sans, who was watching your excitement with joy. You ran to him and he caught you in his hands, lifting you off the ground to wrap his arms around your middle and yous around his neck. You were a giggling machine, and in the heat of the moment, you boldly kissed him on the cheek. His eyes tripled in size, his sockets sparkling from all the light.

“Thank you. From the bottom of my heart. No, from the core of my soul. Thank you.”

He gave you the best hug you’ve ever had in your entire life.

“I made butterscotch cinnamon pie earlier, so let us eat it to celebrate!” Toriel announced. Papyrus let out a series of gleeful noises, running out of the room presumably to the kitchen. Toriel followed, and Sans lifted you up so you perched on his shoulders. He leisurely strolled out of the room and placed you in one of the kitchen chairs. The rest of your day was filled with happy talk and getting to know each other. The three of you bonded over the pie, sharing stories of your past and hopes for the future. Time passed, and Papyrus asked a very important question.

“SANS! DO WE REALLY HAVE TO LEAVE TODAY? I DON’T WANT TO LEAVE MY NEW HUMAN FRIEND! SHE IS VERY NICE AND I LIKE HER VERY MUCH.”

“how about a sleepover?”

“That would be delightful! You know you two are more than welcome to stay over any time.”

Sans suddenly disappeared from sight, only to reappear seconds later with loads of pillows and blankets. What in the…

He winked at you. So he did do something. What was that? Where did he go?

“Wait. Did you just… t e l e p o r t?”

“maybe i did. maybe i didn’t. skeletons these days, who can really tell?”

“YOU DID! YOU, YOU… YOU  T E L E P O R T E D! YOU DID IT WITHOUT THINKING AND I- I DON’T- YOU JUST   **T E L E P O R T E D**!!” You could not control your excitement, sprinting to where Sans stood and jumping up and down around him. He lifted you off the ground with ease and took you down the hall to the bathroom.

“go take a bath, buttercup.”

“But-”

“if you take a bath, i’ll tell you what i just did.”

You’ve never been so eager to take a shower in your entire life. You washed out all the dirt and grit, getting it out of your hair and face. You stepped out baby soft and looking more like yourself. You found a pair of clothes sitting on the counter. They must be Sans’s since they were almost identical to his excluding the jacket. They fit you surprisingly well, so considering his size, these must have shrunk in the wash. Convenient. You ran out the door and into the living room where Sans and Papyrus were setting up the blankets and pillows. You felt a soft tap on the shoulder, turning to face Toriel.

“If you do not mind, I will be sleeping in my room. I don’t fit in here very well, and I think my own bed will be better for my back. I will be back in the morning, of course!”

“It’s no problem! You go rest up. I can’t thank you enough for all you’ve done for me today. Thank you for inviting me into your home.”

“Thank you for believing in us. Goodnight, (Y/N). Sweet dreams.”

You returned the words and watched her leave your line of sight. You turned to find Sans slumped onto his blanket pile, almost already asleep. Papyrus waited for you to adjust to your blanket-pillow mass before he laid down as well.

“HUMAN, THANK YOU FOR BEING OUR FRIEND! I WILL MAKE YOU THE BEST FRIENDSHIP SPAGHETTI I CAN TOMORROW SO WE WILL BE EVEN CLOSER THAN EVER!”

“Spaghetti is my favorite food, no way! I’m very excited to taste the work of such a talented cook.”

“YOU ARE TOO KIND! LOOK, I AM BLUSHING!” A calm orange hue dusted over his cheeks. If his blush was orange, then did that mean this whole time Sans blushed in blue?

He blushed a lot today.

At  y o u.

Oh boy, is it getting hot in here?

“GOODNIGHT BROTHER! GOODNIGHT (Y/N)!”

“Goodnight, Papyrus."

With him out, it was just you and Sans left. He was already gone, too tired to even say goodnight to Papyrus. You blushed and averted your eyes from him, laying down. From the dark, you called out a small goodnight to Sans. You were so tired, you never heard his reply. Sleep ate up your thoughts and the weight of your day lifted.

“sweet dreams, buttercup.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, everyone! I wish I could have updated sooner, so I apologize about that. The school year is slowing down now and I've been exempt from all my classes for finals, so that leaves nearly 8 half days of free school time to write! I'll let you guys know about changes I make in updating for the upcoming summer months. Regardless, I hope you enjoy the rest of your week as well as this chapter. Stay determined!
> 
> -Polaris
> 
> A small side note (really unimportant) I do not have a sense of smell, so any details with smell will be very vague because I really have no idea what anything i'm saying actually smells like. What does pie smell like? How do you even describe that to someone who doesn't remember what things smell like? Anyways, I would be more descriptive on it, but it's hard for me and it's easier to leave it vague. Sorry!


	3. A Morning Wander

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which everyone's freaking out cause the FBI is on your ass.

“(Y / N)”

“T h e  v o i d.”

“I  n e v e r  l e f t.”

“D i d  y o u  r e a l l y  t h i n k  i t  w o u l d  b e  t h a t  e a s y?”

“W a i t.”

“S O M E O N E  E L S E  I S  H E R E.”

You woke up with a start. Gasping for air, you propped yourself up poorly on your elbows and clutched the fabric of the white shirt that was very much not yours. Of course he never left. Why did you think your new friends could stop him? Hell, they didn’t even know he existed. He said something about someone else being in “the void” with him and then static.

What happened?

Now very groggy, you sat upright and held your head in your hands. Man, this bitch was really getting to you. Why would your head even create something like this? I thought imaginary friends were supposed to be chill and friendly, not torment you into running up a mountain and falling straight into it. Not cool, dude. Well, if it weren’t for him, you wouldn’t have met your new friends or discovered this whole monsters are real and live underground thing. You needed to get them out of here, but seven human souls? Shit, that’s a lot of dead people.

You needed to find out how many they already had. Maybe if you were lucky, you were the last one and could give up your soul for them. You would do that after all. Your life was not worth more than hundreds or thousands, however many monsters were down here still. You’d give your apartment to Sans and his gang so they wouldn’t have to struggle for a place to live on the surface. He’d water your plants and make sure they get enough sun. Yeah, things would be better.

You’ve already had your fix of the surface. These people hadn’t even seen the sun.

You raked your fingers through your hair in frustration. You scanned your surroundings and found the living room to be empty. Toriel’s lounge chair was alone but an old thick book lay open on top, and the blankets and pillows had been cleaned up except for the ones that you lay on. The house was silent for a moment until you heard a clatter of pots and pans, Papyrus revealing himself from the kitchen. He wore a flowery apron that was stained with ketchup. Weird.

“OH, HUMAN! YOU ARE AWAKE! PLEASE, JOIN US IN THE KITCHEN FOR SOME BREAKFAST ITEMS. I WOULD HAVE MADE SPAGHETTI, BUT IT SEEMS THAT LADY TORIEL HAS RUN OUT OF NOODLES…”

“I would love to join you all, but may I clear my head for a second? I had a bad dream.” You weren’t lying. I mean, any news from him was bad. You just couldn’t shake the feeling that someone else was there. Someone new. He even said so. How could your brain be creating more people? You must be absolutely off your rocker. Papyrus thought for a moment, a gloved hand holding his jaw in thought while the other held a spatula.

“OF COURSE! DO COME BACK SOON THOUGH BEFORE IT GETS COLD.”

With that, you stood up and brushed off ~~your~~ Sans’s clothes. You opened the front door and looked around the ruins, eyes catching the large black tree in front of you. Was it dead? The leaves were falling off, so it must. It’s not like it would react to seasons down here (plus it’s the middle of April). You wandered towards it and rested your palm on it’s trunk, looking around. You really just needed a place to sit down.

You made your way to the right, seeing piles and piles of leaves scattered around everywhere. Just how many leaves did that tree drop? You heard some rustling and stopped, turning towards the sound. More monsters?

“Hello? Is there anybody there? I won’t hurt you, I’d just like to say hello!” You called out in hopes that whatever monster was lurking out of view wouldn’t be scared of you. There was more rustling and a pair of eyes blinked from under a leaf pile, making you smile. Suddenly, the leaves burst into the air as the monster hopped out, ribbiting towards you. It was a small white frog! You squatted down and leaned towards it, waving lightly.

“Hello, there! My name is (Y/N), and it is a pleasure to meet you! What is your name?”

The frog blinked slowly and let out another croak. It doesn’t seem like it understands english. You wish you knew it’s language so you could get to know him. You searched your brain for possible names. Sans’s voice popped in your head and you remember him saying that monsters called froggits lived here. It had the word frog in it. Maybe that was it’s name?

“Is your name Froggit by any chance?”

It hopped up and down, ribbiting happily. You guess that’s a yes, or it just recognized the sound of it’s own name. You gave Froggit a light pat on the head and stood back up to your full height.

“Would you like to walk with me?”

You still don’t think it understood. You took a few steps forward down the path and Froggit eagerly hopped after you. You guess it was going to follow you anyways. You and Froggit walked further into the ruins, taking time to appreciate its purpleness and old structure. You two approached a very large leaf pile, and you decided to sit down in it. Before you could sit, something foggy caught your eye.

…

There was someone lying down?

You took a step back, but the foggy figure disappeared. You stepped forwards again, and it looked white again before your eyes. You got even closer, and it suddenly became crystal clear.

A GHOST!  
The ghost was floating in the air just a few feet off of the ground. It wore a pair of black headphones, probably not anything name-brand. You looked on the underside of it and noticed a trail of small stars glittering out like a galaxy and fading away in the air. It was about the size of your torso and its eyes were closed, snoozing in peace. Well, you thought it was, until you saw it peek open one of its eyes to steal a glance, only to snap it back shut and continue to fake snore.

“Hello? I don’t mean to interrupt your nap, but could we sit with you? My name is (Y/N)!”

The ghost stopped fake snoring, peeking at you again. It sighed in defeat and floated into an upright position. The little stars twinkled out in shades of purples, blues, pinks, and whites from inside it. It looked apprehensive, unsure if your kindness and introduction were genuine. It looked around, but realized the only living people around it were you and Froggit.

“M-My name is Napstablook. Uh, you can sit here, if you want…”

You smiled and plopped down onto the leaf pile, orange autumn colors puffing up and fluttering down around you. Froggit hopped after you and sat patiently next to your knees. Napstablook looked at you in surprise for taking him up on his offer.

“What are you listening to? Those headphones look really nice! Black is one of my favorite colors because it goes with everything.” You asked. He looked down at you and lowered a little closer to the ground so the height difference between you two wouldn’t be so drastic. The headphones floated off of his head and he glanced off to the side in embarrassment.

“Well, I, uh, I write my own songs… and I am listening to one of them before I, um, upload it to Undernet.”

“Oh! Could I listen? I love music so much! On the surface, I never took my headphones out of my ears because that was all I wanted to do. Down myself in beautiful tunes with lyrics from the heart.” You reminisced in your past, missing your headphones that were probably still sitting on your bed in your apartment. Napstablook’s headphones floated towards you, sliding snugly onto your ears. Your eyes widened at the sounds swirling around you, and you grew quiet with wonder. He must have taken your silence as negative because he quickly responded.

“I, um, You don’t have to l-listen. I know it’s not very good but, uh…” Oh dear, you didn’t mean to hurt his feelings! His music was beautiful! He looked so broken and dejected. You noticed him slowly fading out of sight in sadness and you quickly shot a hand out to stop him.

“I LOVE IT!” You shouted. He stopped fading and quickly turned clear again, looking at you in shock.

“You do? That’s great! Uh, do you think others will?”

“Absolutely! Napstablook, you have a wonderful talent for music! It’s so spooky and pretty! Like something in an opera or.. I don’t even know! It’s so original! Your own personal sound!”

When you looked at him, you didn’t expect to see him crying.

“Oh dear, was it something I said? I didn’t mean it i’m so sorry!” You sputtered out. Was that not the kind of sound he was going for? It really was good and you were being honest. You didn’t want to make him cry! He sniffled and tears shaped more like perfect cartoon tears than you thought was possible flowed out of his eyes in perfect lines, like beads hanging on invisible string.

“N-Nobody has ever b-been so nice to me…”

“You deserve every bit of praise. Hey, maybe we could write songs together sometime? I’m not the best singer, but I do know how to play the ukulele and the guitar. I’m sure we could come up with something crazy cool!”

The tears stopped like someone just pressed a pause button. They hung suspended in mid air and you were entranced by the sight. Monsters are so cool.

“Y-You actually want to hang out? With me?” Oh, you could just squeeze him he was so cute!  
“Yes of course! Where do you live? I can drop by sometime!”

“I live in Waterfall, two zones away from here.” Waterfall? If names stuck to their surroundings, then you think you’d really like Waterfall. You guess you’d have to ask Sans to take you there sometime. You weren’t even sure what was passed the Ruins.

“I’ll be sure to visit you as soon as I can!”

You took off his headphones and placed them on Froggit, allowing him to enjoy the sweet sounds of Napstablook’s music. He bobbed his head around and croaked in time with the beat. You and Napstablook laughed at the sight, lying down in the leaves next to each other. What a beautiful morning. You know you’ll miss the sun very soon, but this is just as nice. Calm... peaceful...

“hey there, buttercup.”

You screamed, jumping up and falling into Napstablook, whom you went right through since he was in fact very much a ghost. Your eyes were wide in fright as you searched for the culprit. Oh wait, Sans was the only one who called you that. You groaned in the aftershock of that scare, falling back down into the leaves face-first. Ass.

“did i scare ya? ‘s _oak_ ay. i’ll just _leaf_ you alone now.”

You burst into laughter, still facing the leaves. You got a mouthful of them but you could hardly care in your state right now.

“Oh my g o d Sans you _birch_ ! _Maple_ next time you’ll think before you sneak up on me!”

You both broke down in laughter, him clutching his nonexistent stomach and falling onto his knees. You crawled over to him and patted him on the face to get him to stop cause all he was doing was making you laugh harder. He finally wheezed himself into silence, placing his hand on your shoulder.

“man, buttercup, you really know how to _spruce_ up my life.”

You snorted, earning a shit-eating grin from him. You remembered your friends behind you and sprang up in joy, running to them and pulling Froggit into your lap to give him a hug. Napstablook floated next to you and smiled in joy, more sparkles fluttering out of him.

“Sans! Look at my new friends! This is Froggit, and this is Napstablook! I didn’t know if you already knew them, but they are so nice! And Napstablook composes! Just listen to this!” You chirped, kicking your bare feet in the air to stand up, taking the headphones from Froggit and putting them on Sans’s skull. He smiled, bobbing his head back and forth comically. He looked at Napstablook and spoke.

“this is really nice, kid. you should write more. got a great beat in you.”

Napstablook blushed blues and pinks, letting out an airy giggle.

“T-Thanks, uh, Sans…”

Sans stood up and gave you back the headphones, to which you pranced back to Napstablook and placed them on his head. How they managed to not go through him confused you to no end. Sans walked behind you and poked you on the shoulder to get your attention.

“hey, you never came to breakfast. i leave you alone for thirty minutes and you’ve already wandered off and made two friends? eh, whatever. they’re nice and ‘m glad they’re nice to you. do you wanna come back now?” He asked, ruffling your hair with one hand and pointing behind him with his thumb. You nodded and stuck your tongue out at him for messing up your hair. You turned to your friends sadly and waved.

“I have to go, you guys! Let’s hang out soon, okay?”

Napstablook nodded and smiled brightly, fading out of sight. Froggit on the other hand bounced over to you and sat on your bare foot with an unhappy look on his face. It looks like he understood you this time.

“No, baby, I have to go now! I promise I’ll be back! And we can talk about everything!” You told him, leaning own to pat his head. Sans took your hand and started leading you away, but Froggit persisted, hopping along after you. Sans realized what was happening and he laughed, holding out a hand for Froggit to jump onto. He lifted the little guy up to his face and gave a quirky smirk.

“thirty minutes and you’ve already got a friend that doesn’t wanna let ya go.” Sans said mostly to himself in a low but kind voice. Froggit turned to you and took this new height to his advantage, hopping onto your head making you giggle and squee with glee. You tried to get him off but he just kept slipping out of your hands! He landed on your shoulder and nuzzled his head into your neck, then shot out his tongue onto your jaw in a kiss and hopped back onto the floor. He looked up at you and croaked, finally running away. You laughed and waved as you watched him jump into the leaves and snuggle into them, ready for a nap. Sans took your hand again and walked you back to Toriel’s house. He looked down at you in thought, finally opening his mouth.

“hey, why did ya leave anyways? pap told me you wanted to clear your head. everything okay?” Bless him and his concern for you.

“Yeah, I’m okay. Just a weird dream. Didn’t wanna talk about it cause you’d think i’ve gone crazy or something.” You said, looking out into the distance not focusing on anything in particular. Sans stopped walking, gently turning your head towards him by your jaw. You looked up at him and he looked down, sockets twisted with realness.

“you’re not crazy, buttercup. crazy cool? maybe. crazy beautiful? absolutely. but you aren’t mad or anything. you’re real and you’re here. i know what it feels like to think you’re crazy and no one could possibly believe the things you’ve seen. you’re thoughts are valid, ok? not crazy. you don’t have to tell me what’s going’ on in your noggin, but don’t beat yourself up about it.”

You didn’t realize you were crying until Sans kneeled down to hold your face in his hands. Man, you’ve been down here for a day and this dude was your best friend. That fucker in your head was really getting to you, and years of torment came flooding back in your tears.

“c’mon, buttercup. let’s go back.” He said, wiping your tears and picking you up so you sat on his shoulders. You giggled and hugged his skull so you wouldn’t fall. Sans was really tall. He held your legs and marched forward. He passed puns along the way to distract you from your head, seemingly knowing that leaving you alone right now to your thoughts wouldn’t be the best. As usual, you shot puns back until a full fledged pun-war broke out between the two of you. To your dismay, Toriel’s door was approaching quickly. Sans opened the door and gestured for you to go inside. You snickered out a laugh when he realized no one was moving.

“after you m’lady.. wait.. oh you’re still up there? man i didn’t notice. here, lemme get ya down.” He grasped your waist, placing you back onto the ground as you giggled. Looking inside, rapid footsteps approached as Papyrus ran by, suddenly skidding on his feet and making a beeline towards you. He lifted you off your feet and held you out in front of him like a doll. He spoke in his loud voice.

“HUMAN! I TOLD YOU TO COME BACK SOON! IT HAS BEEN NEARLY HALF AN HOUR WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?”

“Papyrus you wouldn’t believe! I made two new friends! Napstablook writes nice songs and Froggit is really cute and small!” You relayed your day, making wide hand gestures and forgetting that your feet were dangling in mid-air.

“OH THAT IT LOVELY! THEY ARE USUALLY SO SHY! YOU NEED TO EAT YOUR BREAKFAST, THOUGH. IT HAS GONE COLD BUT THAT’S OKAY! WE SHALL JUST HAVE TO HEAT IT BACK UP.” Papyrus did not put you down, carrying you into the dining room and placing you on top of the table and leaving for the kitchen. Not wanting to disrespect Toriel’s furniture, you hopped down from the tall table and struggled to pull out her industrial sized chairs. She was 8 feet tall after all. She needed giant furniture. Sans walked lazily into the room and laughed as you fell on your butt from pulling out the chair. Now you _really_ felt like a doll. He grasped the back of the chair and pulled it back for you, watching you in amusement as you put up a hand to reject any further help and literally climbed up onto the chair. If you were Goldilocks, than this chair was certainly far from “just right.” Papyrus then returned with a plate of eggs and toast. You munched on it happily as Toriel came into the kitchen, smiling warmly at you.

“Goodmorning, (Y/N)! I hope you had a pleasant night’s sleep here?

“Yes, your home is very lovely! Thank you for allowing me to stay here.”

“It is no trouble at all. Wait, Papyrus? Correct me if I am wrong, but do you and Sans have work today?” Toriel asked, turning to Papyrus. She obviously knew Sans was going to lie just so he could stay in.

“YES, LADY TORIEL! THANK YOU FOR REMINDING US! COME ON, SANS. WE WILL BE BACK LATER!” Papyrus announced, already heading for the door. Sans on the other hand looked significantly less enthusiastic than his brother.

“noooo brooooo.”

“YES SANS. IT IS OUR DUTY!”

“but nooooo.”

You laughed as you finished your breakfast, hopping down with a bit of struggle and hugging Sans around his lower middle which was all you could reach. He looked down at you with happy eyes and a goofy looking smile.

“Sans, you gotta go. Just come back and visit later!”

He wrapped his arms around you, squishing you into his jacket.

“fineeeeee…”

Papyrus suddenly lifted Sans off of the ground and put him under his arm like a football. Sans was huge! Just how strong was Papyrus? Maybe your theory about bone size and muscles was wrong. Papyrus ran out of the dining room with Sans, his face all blue in embarrassment. He stopped at a staircase leading down, turning to you and Toriel who had followed them into the main room. Papyrus waved and smiled, his bones clacking as he spoke.

“GOODBYE, FRIENDS! WE SHALL RETURN SOON ENOUGH.” He declared, taking off down the steps after Sans sent you a sheepish wave. You giggled, giving a pointless wave as he was already well away from view. Toriel motioned for you to follow her into the living room. She picked up the book that was resting on her cushioned chair and sat down, placing the book in her lap and putting on a pair of red reading glasses.

“Would you like to hear a few stories?”

You nodded eagerly, sitting down criss-cross at her feet. She read you so many books you could hardly keep track. She would make a wonderful teacher with her soft voice yet love for letting you discover new things. She told you all there is to monster culture and helped you understand a map of the underground. Sans and Papyrus lived in Snowdin, which was right outside of the Ruins. You also found out that leaving the Ruins was going to be quite a challenge in it of itself.

“As you know, seven human souls are required to break the barrier. I am highly against you leaving the ruins because if my husband Asgore finds you, he will try to kill you to take your soul. It is even more dangerous for you to be out there right now because he has already acquired six souls, and you would be the last one. I do not want you to die, my child. Sans, Papyrus, and I have already had to watch those six go.”

“Wait, your husband? And what do Sans and Pap have to do with the humans?”

“Asgore Dreemur is the King of all Monsters and lives very far from here on the other side of the Underground. After we were sealed away, he had to deal with lots of hate from his subjects. They all wished for the eradication of humans, and Asgore felt that he had to please them. Thus, he agreed that every human that is to fall down here will be killed and their soul will be saved by the barrier until all seven are gained. I was completely against it and asked him to stop, but he would not. I fled from him as far away as I could, which so happened to be the Ruins. I made my little home here and befriended the locals. I thought I would be alone here forever until I heard a knock at my door. It was a knock-knock joke! I couldn’t help but let this person inside and found a skeleton boy by the name of Sans. He became my friend, and shortly after I met his brother Papyrus. They were both against the killing of humans to get out, as all of the humans who fell down here were nothing but kind to us. The skeleton brothers have made it their self-proclaimed duty to look through the Ruins for any fallen humans, as I am old and cannot cover much ground on my own. That is why Sans found you, and is why we must keep your whereabouts as quiet as possible. I know you love making friends, but be careful.”

You nodded your head, exasperated at this new information you were learning. So you were the last soul. And she didn’t want you to die? Oh gosh, this is going to be harder than you thought. You have to die now. You have to make sure Sans or someone can find it, but how are you going to do it without being obvious or getting caught? If one of them stopped you, you’d never hear the end of it. You’ll write a note to make sure Napstablook gets your nice headphones and laptop for making music on the surface. And you’ll make sure someone buys Froggit little flies and crickets to eat from the pet shop.

The air shifted uncomfortably and Toriel yelped in surprise. You twisted around from your place on the floor to find Sans looking around left in right, arms out protectively and feet separated in a way that portrays a look of defense. When he spotted you sitting peacefully in front of Toriel, he sighed in a shaky relief and ran to you, helping you to your feet. He looked very, very scared.

“Sans? What’s wrong? Why are you here in such a rush?” You asked, concern washing over you.

“w-we, we need to get you out of here. we gotta g-go we gotta leave do you have everything? we have to  g o .”

“Sans, slow down! What happened? Why do I have to leave?”

“i-it’s asgore. someone told him about you. he knows you’re here, buttercup baby. oh, god you can’t leave me you just _can’t_. we have to get you out of here. he sent the royal guard and they’re on their way here right now.”

Toriel sprang up from her seat, pure determination in her face.

“Get her out of here. He is not going to take the soul of such a kind woman. (Y/N), you did not come here with anything, did you?”

“N-No ma’am. My clothes are all destroyed from the fall to be worn again. Wait, I am leaving now? But Toriel, what about you? Will I get to see you again?” You grew depressed. You did not want to leave her all alone.

“Of course you can, my dear sweet child. Please take care of yourself. When the dust has settled and the Royal Guard have left, you may return and I will bake you a nice pie to celebrate, okay?” She said sweetly. You felt tears spring in your eyes as you hugged her legs. She leaned down to kiss your cheek. You knew this wasn’t a goodbye forever, but it sure as hell felt like one. She was your other mother.

“Sans, take her to your house. They would not think to look there, and if they do, just hide her somewhere in one of the rooms. Please take care of her.”

“i will, tori. you can count on me.”

Sans turned to you and took your hand. You waved to Toriel in a final thank you. Things were happening too quickly and you wanted to curl up in a ball and cry.

You hope you can come back soon.

Sans took your hand and before you could get one last look at Toriel's home, your whole world went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man, these chapters just keep getting longer and longer, don't they? I really didn't know when to stop on this one, and I had to cut it short. If you'll notice, I changed the way the game goes and Toriel doesn't find you first/she doesn't meet Sans and Papyrus for the first time at the end of the whole shebang. I thought it would be nicer this way.   
> Also, Napstablook's cute little galaxy inside of him is a head cannon of mine. When Frisk lays down with him in the game and everything turns into outer space, I thought it was a big part of him as a person and instead of being a plain lil ghosty, he would have tiny stars twinkling into the air from under him. If I make a Tumblr for this story later, I'll draw you guys a picture so you can see what I mean. Nonetheless, I hope you all enjoyed this installment of "the reader is a huge nerd and loves making friends with frogs."  
> This is only the beginning. Enjoy the happy while it lasts >;)
> 
> -Polaris


	4. Curious Craniums

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which puns are shot with no remorse and Papyrus is -6 seconds away from tossing you both into the snow.
> 
> Bonus: Sans calls you baby twice and you don't notice. Smooth moves.

Pure darkness enveloped you like a vacuum. You felt your body being squeezed through the tightest space, contracting you into inhuman forms. Bones weren’t popping, skin wasn’t stretching. In fact, nothing was happening. You weren’t going anywhere yet you were everywhere. You were in the middle of everything at every time in every place. But you were still somewhere in particular. Where is here? Nowhere? You must be somewhere. But nothing could be seen. Everything could be felt, but there was nothing to feel.

What is going on?

Tears streamed down your face yet they didn’t at all.

What is g o i n g  o n?

Suddenly, in all this chaos. You felt something squeeze your hand. You hair puffed up and suspended in the air around you as you jerked your body to look at whatever it was. You tried to pull away, but it gripped tighter. It made sense. It was solid.

Sans.

“don’t let go.”

You saw him. His left eye shone brightly with flames of yellow and blue, while his right was devoid of light. This was okay. This is Sans. He was the only thing that made sense in this fucked up place.

You fell into his chest and gripped his jacket. He hugged you and cradled your head in his hand. You closed your eyes. You wanted to get out of everywhere.

He lifted your chin and you saw the walls of an unfamiliar house.

“fuck, buttercup. i didn’t remember that you’ve never teleported with me before. god damn it i should have told you to close your eyes. you were thinking about it too much. you didn’t understand.”

You were shaking. You don’t remember anything of what just happened yet you knew in your heart that you just saw something you shouldn’t have seen. Sans cursed under his breath at your state and picked you up, sitting on the rickety old couch and holding you against him while muttering genuine apologies into your hair.

“I-I don’t remember w-what just happened? What happened? H-How did we get here?” You forced out of your fear-constricted throat. Your brain must be blocking out the images that you had just seen. You were mainly scared because you hated not knowing things. It gave you immense anxiety. You needed to know everything and wanted to understand how everything works. You need structure. You need instructions. Hell, even a shitty Wiki article explaining what the fuck just happened would be enough.

“do you really want me to explain it? it involves wormholes and all this weird shit.”

You stopped shaking, looking up at him with wide eyes. Your tears stuck to your cheeks and leftovers dripped from your chin, making dark splotches on Sans’ jacket. He was confused at first, until he remembered how curious you were about magic and space.

“W o r m h o l e s?”

It was as if everything about the place that you had been to was wiped clean from your brain for now. You focused on nothing but the sheer amount of science behind this teleportation process. Sans took your distracted science craving opportunity to keep you from thinking about the everything/nothing. You were, in this moment, a cute curious child.

“yeah, you heard of ‘em?”

“Heard of them? H e a r d  o f  t h e m? Oh fuck I’ve studied them for years! God, I could never truly wrap my head around the process. Please tell me how! I need to know how!”

Sans watched your expressions change with wonder. He could tell that deep down, you wanted to keep crying and shaking, but your mind was telling you otherwise. Blocking out the fear with your interests. He admired that, but it surely couldn’t be healthy. You were like him. Needing to know everything about everything. If it helped your nerves, then damn it he would talk for eternity.

“open your mind for me. forget everything you know about physics and logic. where we are about to go, there are none. there’s no way to explain it without understanding that it can’t be understood yet it just works.”

You were vibrating in excitement. You tucked your head to your knees and scrunched up your face, closing your eyes tightly and puffing out your cheeks. You rested your index and middle fingers on the side of your head. Sans blushed at the innocence. You were trying to forget logic, just like he told you too. He knew you weren’t actually going to forget, but he let you play the part and act out what you _ would  _ do if you could. Your eyes sprang open and you smiled brightly, scrambling out of Sans’ lap and sitting criss-cross on the empty cushion next to him, still leaning forward in anticipation.

So fucking cute.

“Okay! All forgotten! Now tell me!!!”

Sans cleared his “throat” and began.

“as you know, wormholes are theoretical passages through space-time. they can create shortcuts and make long journeys through the universe quicker than you can blink. with the help of my magic, i can poke holes through reality. here, for example, you know when you poke a pencil through a piece of paper and it leaves a few little triangles sticking out around the circle you just made because you didn’t punch out the paper and it’s all still there, just warped? that’s exactly what i do, except those little ends connect with the ends of another piece of paper with a hole through it pointing towards me. it’s a tunnel. each hole is a mouth, and the tunnel is the throat that connects the two mouths together. depending on things in the way that we cannot see by conventional means, the tunnel can either be a straight shot, or it can twist and wind around these entities, which makes the “teleportation” process a little longer than a blink by milliseconds.”

“Can the tunnel collapse? I’ve read that it can. What happens then?”

“bad things. places we shouldn’t go. collapsing wormholes can result in death or relocation, and can expose you to dangerous contact with exotic matter. those entities i was talking about? you’d be in their realm. it’s called the void, and it’s what you just saw. i don’t have to close my eyes because i understand the void, but i gotta warn ya next time ‘cause you don’t entirely. i’ sure you’d like to know, but that’s a topic for another day. don’t worry. i’ll tell ya about it for sure.”

When Sans peeked out of his nerdy space dude alter ego, he saw something that almost made him tear up. You. He wanted to take a photograph of this moment so badly that it hurt. The curiosity in your face was astounding. You were shining brighter than all the stars that he had never seen. You glowed brighter than the moon that he had heard so much about and tried to understand through pictures in books. You were a ray of light in this darkness around them, breaking through the storm clouds that shrouded hope. He felt this urge in his soul. To protect you at all costs. His little star would not burn out. Not if he could help it. He was broken out of his daze by the most adorable squee that ripped from your throat. You kicked your legs around to release the pent up energy that you had been desperately holding so you didn’t explode in his face with questions. Your little hands balled up into fists as you jerked your arms around in time with your legs, head dashing back and forth in small jerks as your little nose scrunched up with the huge grin on your face.

So fucking  **_cute_ ** .

You took in a huge breath. Oh shit. Nothing was going to stop you now. Sans braced himself for a nerd-out.

“Ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh!!!!! Oh. My. Gosh!!!! Sans this is amazing! You are amazing! You just explained something that’s been nagging at me forever! I understand! You-You! I! Wait…  **_I_ ** JUST WENT THROUGH A  **_WORMHOLE_ ** . SANS! DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS! ALL OF MY RESEARCH… EVERYTHING! IT’S RIGHT THERE!”

You sprang up and stood on the couch cushion, putting your hands on Sans’ shoulders and giving him a huge kiss on the forehead. He exploded into every shade of navy blue you could think of. You jumped off of the couch and ran around in circles, muttering nonsense to yourself along with lots of technical terms that Sans recognized. You were counting your digits and your eyes were sparkling and you were just absolutely stunning.

The front door slammed open as Papyrus marched into the house. You had not stopped pacing until he began to speak.

“OH! HUMAN! WHAT A PLEASANT SURPRISE! YOU SHOULD HAVE TOLD ME YOU WERE COMING. I HAVE NOT PREPARED ANY SPAGHETTI FOR YOU!”

You stopped in your tracks, skidding on the carpet. If Papyrus was here, than this must be the skeleton brother’s house!

“It’s quite alright, Pap! I did drop in without any plans to anyways. We are experiencing a bit of a problem right now.”

“OH, REALLY? WHAT IS WRONG?”

You turned to Sans for help. He sat up a little straighter and his eyes grew dim.

“‘s the royal guard. when (y/n) went outside by herself this morning, she attracted some of the wrong attention. whimsum saw her talkin’ to a froggit, and she got so scared that there was a human in the underground that she went to go tell asgore. only problem was she was so scared to tell asgore that she couldn’t do it. instead, she told a vegetoid. he saw (y/n) for themself and spilled the beans to asgore. now that he knows she’s down here and that she was spotted in the ruins, he sent undyne and some dogs to go sniff her out. i brought her here, ‘n she’s gonna be staying with us for a while until they get tired of looking.”

Sans looked angry, eyes growing dimmer the longer he spoke. Papyrus noticed this silent rage and sat down next to his brother, wrapping an arm around his shoulder and smiling with positivity.

“THEN PROTECT HER WE SHALL! NO ONE WILL KNOW ABOUT (Y/N)! NOT IF I CAN HELP IT! SHE WILL STAY HERE AS LONG AS SHE NEEDS TO.”

Sans looked up at his brother and his sockets shone brightly. He hugged Papyrus and laughed.

“yeah. ‘y hear that, buttercup? you’ve got two personal bodyguards now. we’re gonna have a  _ skeleton _ of fun.” 

You laughed out loud. You expected that one, but damn was it funny. You ran to the skeleton brothers and jumped on them, sitting in their laps and hugging them around their middles. Papyrus wasn’t comfy at all. Wayyyy to boney. You stuck to Sans’ puffy jacket a little more. Much better.

“I couldn’t ask for a better pair of bones.”

“SANS! YOU’RE INFECTING HER WITH YOUR IMMATURE JOKES!”

“no, see? she likes it. she even started it. first thing i ever heard out of her mouth was puns. look at this gem. punning every since we  _ met _ acarpal.”

“That was a stretch and we both know it.”

“stretch? nah. i don’t have the stomach for these lies.”

“Aww, man! Didn’t think my words would literally go right through you.”

“I CANNOT STAND THIS TORTURE ANYMORE. BOTH OF YOU! I AM LEAVING FOR THE KITCHEN! THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU HAVE JUST DONE.”

“But he’s the bonehead! Not me!”

“NYEEEEHHHHHHH!”

Papyrus fled the scene as fast as he could. You and Sans shared a look before bursting out into laughter. You snorted, making Sans laugh even harder. Blue tears were streaming out of his sockets as he struggled to find his breath. You gave him a weak high five as you fell back on the couch in agony. This dude was gonna give you some sweet abs if he makes you laugh as much as he already has.

“what now?”

“I have no idea. We’re kinda stuck here until Asgore stops being suspicious, right?”

“that’s the plan.”

“Can we watch TV?”

“sure thing, buttercup.”

The remote was encased in blue and levitated towards him. Your jaw dropped and you scurried into his lap to inspect the cotrol device. You looked up at him with eyes that demanded another explanation. 

“remember the gravity stuff i told you about? how our souls are like black holes and we create forms with inescapable light? well my magic is able to mediate the amount of gravity that affects any object i want. i made the gravitational pull of the remote center on my hand, and i released it’s hold on the earth’s gravity so it focused on the one emitting from my palm.”

“Can you do it on people too?”

Instead of answering you, he placed the remote down and lifted his hand into the air. You felt weightless, and you gasped as your body flipped around and twirled slowly as you were lifted off of the couch. He gently brushed his hand to the side and you followed its movements, twisting into the air and towards the ceiling. He was rewarded with a flurry of sweet candy giggles from your soul. Your delicate locks ribboned in front of you, and you sneezed when some of it got in your nose. You looked at your fingers and found them to be outlined in blue, turning your hand around and following the trail of blue down your arms all the way to your toes. This is w i l d. You let out a tiny “oof!” when your back hit the ceiling and your hair fell out of your face towards it. You looked down, well, up, at Sans, who looked upside down to you and was chuckling at the control he had over you.

“Hey! You look like you’re on the ceiling!”

“you do too.”

You sat up and clambered to your feet, squealing in joy as you started pacing on the ceiling, carefully avoiding the ceiling fan’s spinning blades. Suddenly, you walked towards the wall and placed a hand on it, yelping when the gravity changed again and you fell onto it, crushing your nose and knocking your forehead. You whined and stood up again.

“Now you look like you’re on the wall!”

“you do too.”

You leaned over a picture frame of a bone, walking around it and moving towards the ceiling again. You were having the time of your life.

“THE SPAGHETTI IS READY, FRIENDS. WAIT, WHERE IS (Y/N)?”

“she doesn’t seem to understand the gravity of her situation right now.”

“WHAT? WAIT… OH! HUMAN! SANS, GET HER OFF OF THE WALL THIS INSTANT! SHE IS GOING TO LEAVE TRACKS!”

“sorry, baby. i hope you enjoyed your 9.8 meters per second squared of fun.”

“It’s okay. Hey Pap? You by any chance make some anti-gravi-tea to go with the pasta? It would really lift my spirits.”

“OH FOR GOODNESS SAKES, YOU TWO ARE IMPOSSIBLE! HURRY UP AND GET IN THE KITCHEN BEFORE THE SAUCE GETS COLD!”

You put your hands on your hips and winked at Sans. He chuckled, lifting his hand so you did an air-backflip towards him. He set you gently on the floor and adjusted your shirt so it sat nicely again. He pushed you towards the kitchen and you stuck your tongue out at him playfully, skipping away. You were able to pull out these chairs much easier, since they were skelly-sized and not fit for an 8 foot goat mom giant. You hopped up with ease as Papyrus gave you a plate. Sans lazily slugged into the room and slumped into his seat, hands in his pockets and head on the table. You decided to mess with him a little. For kicks.

“Man, you love to sleep, don’t you? That’s why you must be so dreamy.”

Sans tensed up, turning his skull so you could barely see his eyelights, very much tripled in size. The navy blue blush returned to it’s rightful place on his cheekbones and... nope, it’s spreading to his whole face.

“yeah, i dream a lot. ‘s cause i always get to see you running through ‘em.”

You choked and turned cherry red, hiding in your hands. He used your words against you! Not fair!

“Nooooooo I surrenderrrrrrr….”

“HAVE YOU TWO FINALLY TIRED OUT?”

He was answered by two very embarrassed nods. You two forgot about it eventually as dinner went by. You quickly found out that as much as you love Papyrus, his spaghetti skills weren’t all that great. You really didn’t want to finish this, and Sans seemed to get the memo (he couldn’t eat it either). The noodles were burned and the sauce wasn’t mashed enough. Not enough spices. Was that glitter? While you were talking to Papyrus, you glanced down at your plate to find over half of it gone. You looked at Sans, who gave you nothing more than a sly wink. Your dinner disappeared before your very eyes, and so did your punny friend. All you could think of was spaghetti going through tiny wormholes. That was probably it.

Dinner wrapped up and you would have helped wash the dishes, but the sink was 6 foot 7 Papyrus sized and definitely not 5 foot 3 (Y/N) sized. Sans ushered you to the living room where you both sat down, you curling up into a ball like a cat. You were hungry. Your stomach growled and Sans looked at you in confusion.

“what was that? how did you do that?”

“What?”

Another growl.

“that! why are you making that sound?”

“Oh, right. No organs in a Sans. Well, that’s my unhappy stomach. When I am hungry or my stomach is upset with what I have eaten, It makes that noise to alert me that I should probably do something about it. In this case, I’m probably just hungry.” You were getting tired. Too tired to nerd out over organs. That’s how tired you were.

“it makes noises? ohmygosh!” 

Sans, on the other hand, was never too tired to nerd out. He untangled you from yourself and laid you down flat, resting his skull over your belly. It grumbled again and Sans laughed, listening in.

“it’s like a built in alarm system!”

“A really uncomfortable one…” Your eyes were starting to droop. Sans noticed this and let you keep lying down. He blipped out of sight and before you knew it, he was back with pillows and blankets. he lifted your head and stuffed one of them under it, then adding a white comforter on top of you, tucking it up to your chin.

“i’ll make sure to get you some food later, okay?”

You managed a nod and he smoothed out your hair, tucking it behind your ear.

“G’night, Sans…”

“night, baby.”

He was gone in a flash, your scalp tingling from where his digits used to be. You were alone now. Alone with your thoughts.

Six souls. Seven needed. You were their last hope for a while cause humans normally avoided Mt. Ebbot. It was mediatized into being more of a scary ghost story than what it truly was. People were rumored to visit the mountain, only to never return again. You knew you needed to die, but you were starting to lose motivation to do so. You wanted to keep making friends. You wanted to help everyone down here see the world. The only problem was, you didn’t see a way to all get out together. You were the final reactant in the chemical equation, and the product would be nothing but joy for monsters. You didn’t want to die, though. You wanted to show Napstablook the internet and all of the music apps that he could upload his tunes to. You wanted to take Froggit to a creek and let him swim with all of the other frogs. You wanted to give Toriel a chance to teach, start a school. You wanted to take Papyrus to a bookstore and buy him all of the cookbooks he wanted.

You wanted to go star-gazing with Sans. Both outside and inside your apartment. You wanted to teach him about the constellations and all of the stories sewn into the sky, only opening up when the sky was dark and clear. You wanted to take him to work with you and teach him about human anatomy and all you knew. Let him see all of the tools you used and all of the ways medicine can cure sick humans. You wanted to live life with him.

You wanted to live for your friends.

  
This just got a lot more complicated.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reader is too nice for her own good. She doesn't even see that killing herself would make her friend's lives so much worse. Reader is a character that I have modeled on lessons that I have learned over the years. As I have been facing depression for a long time, she has one major lesson that will impact the whole story, just like it is a truth that will impact your whole life:
> 
> You are worth more than you can ever possibly know.
> 
> Until next time,
> 
> -Polaris


	5. Don't know me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which you panic, explain yourself vaguely, and make hot jokes.

It was the middle of the night, the skeleton brothers long since retired for bed. You sat on the couch staring at your palms as you clenched and unclenched your fingers, testing if they were real or not. You never really felt real. You forgot you were alive so many times that you had to wiggle your fingers around to remind yourself that you were in control of your surroundings. When you were with your friends, you didn’t need to do this, already finding life in them. But when you were alone, you felt dead. There was no one to reassure you. Nothing to keep your soul from floating away.

Nothing to fill the silence.

Except for h i m. The fucker that lives in your head with the oozing black face and bright white headlight eyes, pupiless and glowing with greed. The one that drove you insane working at the hospital that one horrible day. The one that chased you up the mountain until you fell i n t o it. God damn you, Clear. That is his name. Very unfitting for someone who does nothing but clutter your mind with self-destructive thoughts.

You continued flexing your digits, shaking your head to clear, ehem, _Clear_ , from your brain. The minutes ticked by and all you did was stare. You dropped your hands to your knees and blinked slowly. You sat as still as a statue, stuck in your past memories as tears unknowingly dripped from your eyes.

You previously didn’t want to die, but maybe it would be better for everyone. It would sure as hell be better for you too.

“(y/n)?”

Maybe you should leave while the skeletons are asleep. Sans said monsters wanted to kill you anyways, so just find one, tell them you’re a human, and problem solved.

“...(y/n)?”

But you’d have to find a monster who will make sure your soul goes to the king. You’re sure something would happen if an irresponsible monster got a hold of you.

“(y/n), listen to me.”

What even are souls? God, all the things you can do with them. Maybe souls have something to do with Clear.

“goddamnit (y/n), wake up!”

Someone snapping in your face woke you from your trance. Focusing your vision on your surroundings, you noticed your favorite skelly crouched down in front of you. You blinked lazily, something obviously not right.

“Oh, heya Sans. What’s up?”

“forget about me, what’s up with you? you’re cryin’.”

You blinked again, his words not really processing. You lifted a hand to your face and felt tears stream down between your fingers. This cold sensation gave you a sense of grounding, suddenly shaking your head and blinking rapidly. The hand on your cheek began to hit your head, a numbing sensation pulsing through your skull with every smack. Your other hand was about to do the same when Sans suddenly jumped into action and grabbed your wrists, just like he did the first time he met you.

“no, no buttercup. don’t do that. that’s not good for you.” Sans said gently, not confident that his words would reach you. They obviously didn’t because he could feel your wrists squirming for release and your hands crumpled into fists, fingers digging into your palms and leaving welts of crescent shapes behind from your nails. To stop this, Sans laced his fingers with yours and held them firmly, your nails trying to pierce his bone but finding no luck. Your breathing became quick and you wanted to desperately hit your head, but Sans was being a pain. You found your voice, becoming more aware that you were alive.

“S-stop. Stop! Let me… Let me! My hands... My head.” You hurried out, sentences barely forming and fear rising. Sans tightened his grip on your hands as your struggle increased. He didn’t say anything, not wanting to start a fight with you. It took a long time, but much like a child, you temper dwindled down until that same lazy buzz overtook you, your shoulders slumping and grip completely releasing on him. He let your hands go, placing them on your knees. He looked up at you from the floor, not liking the dimness of your pretty eyes.

“let’s talk, huh? i gotta get you to focus on something. i know what this is. i’ve lived it.”

You blinked, looking at him. He caught your attention.

“yeah, let’s talk. can you tell me about you? you need to talk.”

No response.

“c’mon, buttercup. i need you to say something to me. what are you thinking? you can’t let it simmer inside you. ‘s not good for you.”

You sat up a little straighter, finding your voice again.

“Um… I… I’m (Y/N). (L/N). I... uh… like space… and uh… the hospital.” You struggled to let out, knowing that Sans was just going to keep pestering you if you didn’t talk. His eyes widened a little.

“yeah, that’s it. little things at a time. why do you like space?”

“I like… understanding everything. Space has the most secrets. I don’t like not knowing things. I need to know… how everything…”

“how everything what?”

“Works. I need to know everything. I need to understand how everything works. How everything exists. If we… exist.”

“me too. not knowing things gives you the creeps too, huh?”

“Yeah. That’s why I freaked out… when you teleported. Cause I didn’t get it.”

Sans could clearly see you struggling.

“okay, why else do you like space?”

“I like stars. I like… constellations. I really like constellations. I like their stories. I like the way they are all tied together like an open book and you can only read certain chapters at a time.”

“what do you mean? i don’t exactly know what stars look like… or constellations for that matter, heh. tell me about it.” Bingo. He found the bait to keep you distracted and you took it.

“The constellations are pictures humans see in the sky, like Orion and Ursa Major. Each picture is made out of a string of stars we are able to see from Earth, and typically each constellation is related to another, whether it be entirely or only a fraction. There are the zodiacs, which relate to your birthday and are said to describe you. There are animals and women with bad pasts… astrological figures made exclusively for storytelling at night. The constellations make sense and they are open for everyone to enjoy. It’s a connection to the past and a message for those in the future, however long those certain stars remain in the sky. Each part can only be read at certain times of the year because of Earth’s rotation in correlation to them. Certain constellations are only visible during certain months, so each chapter is revealed slowly and repeats itself when each is told. Every star is important in locating the sentences. Everything is important and constant and reliable because the night sky will not change for me or for you, so I won’t be stressed when i’m dead and the sky must be rewritten. Books are easy to alter, stories that can be rewritten at any time. Words are just words and don’t last. I don’t enjoy paper books because of this. I don’t like change. But the sky won’t change. Nobody can take away the stars.”

Sans was breathless, white pupils glowing brighter the more your words excited him. He felt helpless yet relieved to have this information he had no idea about revealed to him.

“Do you think we will see the stars together?” You asked, looking up at the ceiling lazily. You obviously didn’t realize how much your innocent little rant affected him. You continued, growing excited now.

“No, don’t answer that. I know we will. We will because I promise we will, okay? You are gonna see the stars with me! And I’m gonna show everyone around the surface! I’m gonna invite you guys over for movie nights and make snacks and everyone is gonna get jobs and live! I.. I’ll get to show you my awesome apartment! I have these really cool star stickers on my walls and they glow green! Each wall has a different section of the sky and it’s so nice when it’s dark outside because even if it’s raining you can still read the walls and you don’t have to wait till next month to read the next story! If you lay down on the floor you don’t feel boxed in and everything just feels right. I have nerd books too! I have space ones that are all facts because I hate fiction books since they aren’t real and can be changed. I also have human anatomy books so you can understand how we work! Oh, and I can take you to work with me and show you around the hospital and you can see how we see bones since they are covered by flesh! That’s my specialty! I work with x-rays which let you see past all the mushy stuff and get to the backbone of it! Oh, oops no pun intended. You can see how medicine helps sick humans and maybe your monster healers can team up with the hospital to make medicine and experiment on healing magic with human resources! Do you know how much that will help us? Everyone? I can finally save everyone! I could help people! Nobody will have to die with me again… Nobody will die… Nobody will die by my hands… again… nobody… no…”

You gripped at your hair and your head fell between your knees, sobs racking your body. You could feel Clear bubbling up in your throat and clogging your windpipe with PTSD. Sans’s hands hovered around you, feathering the air because he wasn’t sure what to do now. You were so _happy_ before, but your own mind made you lost control again.

“... buttercup?”

“No more dying… No more dying… I’m so sorry everyone. I… I’m so sorry, Clear.”

Clear? You said it as if it was a name, but it’s just a normal word, right? Clear what?

“...clear? what are you clearing? what happened to you?”

You tensed up as soon as the word “clear” left his mouth.

“No… not what. He is… Clear is… I fucking hate him.”

“clear is a person?”

“No! He… He’s so much worse… not a human…”

“buttercup you’re not making any sense. i want to help you but i need to know what you’re talking about. is he a monster? who is he?”

“Don’t talk about him. He’s listening.”

Sans felt his sins crawling on his back. It was as if your words had just thrown him into a horror movie. You looked so blank, eyes whiter than usual. The bags under your eyes were growing darker. Sans stared in shock, not believing his eyes. All at once, you blinked rapidly and stood up, placing your hands on Sans’s skull.

“Not yet. I can’t tell you. You’ll throw me out.”

“(y/n) i would n e v e r-”

“Please Sans. Not yet.”

He didn’t want to accept defeat here. He was actually getting somewhere with you and he hated to stop now. But he would never rush you. You’re struggling as is.

He can wait.

“alright. no rushing. are you… still hungry?”

He heard your tummy rumble, making him laugh a little.

“i’ll take that as a yes. take my hand.”

He stood up, holding out stark white bones to you. You were scared to take it. You realized something. He was a skeleton. A walking talking skeleton. You’ve seen these bones before in such a different setting. White walls, tiled floors, radiation in the air. You saw bones in such horrid scenarios. Broken bones jutting out of skin at odd angles, dislocated arms, cracked skulls, everything in between. Sans and Papyrus were walking reminders of the death you’ve caused in that hospital.

No, no they weren’t.

Sans was nice. Papyrus loved you so quickly.

You… you can handle this. Being friends with them would help you get over your mistakes, right?

Right…?

“(y/n)?”

Right.

You took his hand, a smile gracing your lips.

“Excuse my outburst. I tend to not like being alone with myself.”

“it’s no problem. let’s get some food in you.”

And out the door you went.

 

Cold snow hit your face as you stepped into the unknown. You had never seen anything beyond the ruins or the skeleton brothers’ house. Needless to say, you were never expecting snow of all things. You thought it would just be humid and murky, but snow? Where was it even coming from? There were no clouds covering the cave ceiling. Just stalactites glooming down at you with little twinkling gems scattered about. Paying more attention to the snow, you noticed it appearing out of nowhere at a certain height, moving as if there was a genuine breeze.

Oh, right. The Underground was a place of magic.

“heh, welcome to snowdin. it’s the coolest place in the underground for sure.”

You smacked him in the arm with the back of your hand for that joke. Looking around some more, you noticed the little details. Old buildings with colorful paint. Christmas lights everywhere, though you weren’t entirely sure the monsters down here celebrated it or even knew what it was. Was that a tiny igloo? And why was the library spelled “Librarby” almost on purpose? That was a high-quality sign too.

What really caught your attention was the monsters. Despite it being oh so late at night, it didn’t look like the time changed at all. With no sun or moon, who could tell? The monsters probably woke up and went to sleep whenever they pleased. A bunny was walking a much smaller bunny on a leash, a wolf was hauling blocks of ice on his back, a mouse was wrapped up tightly with a scarf while a smiling red monster you couldn’t distinguish stood kindly next to them. You also saw a dog wearing armor and another dog with daggers looking around defensively, following the armored dog into a building with big neon letters that simply said “Grillby’s.”

“Hey, what’s that place?” You asked Sans, pointing to the building the dogs just walked into. Sans seemed to brighten up at your question.

“that, my dear, is the best restaurant on the planet. my old pal grillby runs it. they sell burgers and fries as well as drinks if you’re of age.”

“You have age restrictions on drinking? Don’t all monsters age differently? At least from what i’ve gathered.”

“you’re observant. i like that. how old are you?”

“24.”

Sans would have spit out his drink if he had one.

“24??!? what the hell? that’s like… a baby!”

“A baby? Sans, sweetie. Humans live to be roughly 70-80 years, depending on your lifestyle. Some may even live to 100 and a bit beyond if you’re extremely lucky. I am an adult.”

“70??! 80??? there’s no way someone’s life is that short!”

“Welcome to the human race, Sansy boy. How old are you?”

“... you sure you wanna know?”

“Yes.”

“...264.”

Now it was your turn to spit out your imaginary drink.

“264?!?? WHAT THE FUCK? How long to skeleton monsters live??!?”

“actually, i have no idea. pap and i are the only ones known to exist, so until one of us dies, we’ll never know.”

“Wh-what? What if you die tomorrow? Or next week? You’ll never know! You have nothing to base your life expectancy off of!”

“i think i can tell when i’m gonna die, buttercup.”

“YOU NEVER KNOW!!!”

“oh look, we’re here.”

“STOP CHANGING THE SUBJECT THIS IS SERIOUS BUSINESS!”

“grillby is real easy to warm up to. he’s very light. just don’t drink water around him. it really burns him out.”

“... I have a feeling i’m missing something here.”

“don’t worry. i won’t have to enlighten you.”

Sans pushed open the door and a very home-y smell filled the air. It was warm in here. Very warm. People filled the bar/diner all over, turning to watch you walk in. All eyes were on you. You felt very exposed and nervous, backing up into Sans. He placed his hands on your shoulders and led you inside with a gentle push. You looked up at him, then looked at everyone else as their eyes shifted from you to the tall skelly behind you.

“SANS!”

All at once the stares switched to smiles when Sans came into view. He waved around, continuing to push your less-struggling body towards some empty bar stools. Only one thing was on your mind.

Why the hell haven’t they noticed you were human?

You squeaked when Sans tightened his grip on your shoulders, picking you up with ease and placing you on the standard spinny red cushioned bar stool. He slumped into the one next to you, slipper-clad feet easily touching the floor while you kicked yours back and forth. Man you were short.

It was then you realized why Sans was making so many flame puns.

In front of you stood a literal fire monster. Not even a normal one with fire patterns. No, this dude was 100% flames. You could see little wisps and ashes fluttering into the air above his head as his “hair” danced back and forth in a comical way. He was wearing clothes even, giving his body a human shape despite literally glowing and flickering. A pair of thin wire glasses were perched on his nose, or where it would be, but was actually just floating in front of his face.

“grillbz, this is (y/n). she’s new down here, if you know what i mean.”

Grillby looked at you, expressionless. You felt his stare but he had no eyes to show it. After a subtle silence, you lifted a hand into a small wave.

“Um, hello! Can we be friends?”

He lifted a hand, wanting you to shake it. You stared at his hand instead because it was made out of legitimate fire and you weren’t looking for third degree burns.

“It is alright. I will not hurt you.”

He can talk? You weren’t even sure if you heard him right. It sounded like the crackling of a fireplace, but the English words were just fitting into place without context.

“It won’t hurt?”

“No. Do not fret.”

You tentatively reached out a hand, letting his much larger one encase yours. Soft flames licked at your fingers and warmed your palm, making you realize that it was fucking cold outside and you didn’t even register it at first. You grabbed the other side of his hand with your free one, bringing the hand to your face to rest on your cheek.

“You are very cold.”

“Damn, Grillby! You’re so hot!”

Now Sans literally spit out his water.

Grillby’s cheeks turned bright yellow. His flames grew brighter in embarrassment at your cheeky comment. You reached over the bar table to grab his other hand that was held against his chest in surprise. Now holding both of his hands, you pressed them to your cheeks and smiled brightly as gentle warmth thawed out your muscles.

“Sorry, Grillby. Didn’t mean to kill your flame. We were off to such a great start! I can practically feel our friendship melting together. Burning passion lies between us! Just light the flame and watch us go!”

“Sans. You didn’t tell me she’d be another you.”

“i-i didn’t even know she’d do this! hahahaha!!!” Sans could hardly control his laughter. With you busting puns out at lightspeed, there was no way for him to regain his breath. You just wouldn’t stop, leaning closer and closer to Grillby as your little chatterbox mouth revealed itself. You quickly went from shy and nervous to outrageous once you were in your element. Grillby began to laugh the closer you got until he was full on cackling. Nobody could believe it. Grillby never laughs!

You got the whole place laughing, people cheering you to keep going. You would have until the doors to Grillby’s burst open.

“SANS! WE… WE HAVE TO GO! YES! JUST… PLEASE COME HERE!!”

Sans knew something was up. He teleported next to him.

“what’s wrong, pap?”

“HIDE (Y/N).”

Papyrus didn’t have to say anything more. Sans’ eyes were pitch black as he turned, rushing over to you and picking you up. Grillby looked at Sans in what could be interpreted as confusion. He spoke as softly as to not stir up chaos.

“royal guard.”

Grillby literally took you from Sans and disappeared into the back room. You were getting really tired of being carried around. What was even going on? Grillby took you into his storage closet where boxes of bottled magic were stacked. He gently placed you on your feet and you looked up at him. He was quite tall, too.

“Please, human. Do not move.”

“Wait, how do you know i’m a human? If I am correct, this generation of monsters do not know what humans look like. Since you are all drastically different, there is no way for you to distinguish me from the humans from long ago. From your varying ages, the possibility of one of you recognizing the features of a human is slim to none. I just look like a new monster. Were you perhaps alive when monsters lived on the surface?”

“You ask many questions.”

“I need many answers.”

Grillby gazed at you curiously.

“That is a conversation for another time. The Royal Guard is after you. They want your soul. I will protect you. Please do not move.”

He closed the door with a soft click.

…

What the hell have you gotten yourself into?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for the long absence, but I will attempt to be more consistent. I haven't given up on this story at all! I have a conclusion ready and everything. I took the summer off to catch up on sleep and work on my sicknesses and depression. I am taking extremely challenging classes at school that assign lots of homework, but it's alright. I'm actually working on a Levi Ackerman x Reader story if you like Attack on Titan, so expect that in the near future while I get the plot done! It won't be following the normal story very much, but certain events and deaths will be happening. If you are interested, let me know!  
> Also, I will be responding to all new comments from now on! Feel free to say anything you'd like.
> 
> Back again soon,  
> -Polaris


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